Innocent Bystanders
by KitaWarheit
Summary: The Realms of Chaos and Order were enemies before they were even born. Why? How long must this war rage?
The realm of Order had been experiencing water shortages off and on throughout the years and now in this point of time, they were the worst they had been in years. The Senate, attempting a calm and reasonable way to fix the problem, sent a handful of guardsmen as representatives to a place in EarthRealm, where they would (hopefully) meet with the current Cleric of the realm of Chaos in an attempt to make an agreement. The Senate agreed EarthRealm would be a suitable place so that no one would have the advantage of their homeland to make things seem unfair. Of course, getting people from ChaosRealm to even meet for a simple discussion would be difficult. Surprisingly, the Cleric decided to humor the Seidans and agreed to meet (even if they were far late from their agreed meeting time).

Havik was very young at the time when he had overheard that the Cleric would be meeting with Seidans. (At the time, he was not ready for training for position of Cleric, nor did he have the mangled face he would have later in his life.) Curiosity took hold of the young child and he pleaded the Cleric to allow him to go with. He had never yet seen any other realm besides his own, and wondered what people of order were like. The Cleric agreed, thinking it would be beneficial should Havik truly wish to become Cleric—as this would probably not be the last time they would have to deal with those from Seido.

Now, in OrderRealm, Hotaru was also very young as he, too, overheard plans to meet with those of ChaosRealm. Even as young as he was, he was told he would be a Seidan guard one day, and was already starting to learn simple self discipline, even if he wasn't always that great at it yet—after all he was just a small child. The commander of the guard at this point in time, who was personally seeing to that Hotaru would become next commander after himself, had come to Hotaru, advising him to come with to meet with the ChaosRealmers—also finding it beneficial to his future position, much like the Cleric to Havik.

The sun was at the highest point in the sky when those of ChaosRealm finally arrived at the designated meeting point in EarthRealm. Arriving was the Cleric, his right hand man, and one of the village care-taking mothers, who held Havik's hand as they walked. Opposite from them was the Seidan Commander, his first in command, and second in command who stood by Hotaru for protection.

"I see you have brought your protégé, for learning purposes I presume," the Commander remarked with a slight sneer. "I would have never thought you to give children of your realm some form of discipline. How admirable."

"And I see you have brought your future stick-in-the-mud," the Cleric retorted with a small laugh. "Now, what is it that you want? I would prefer to make this quick."

As the adults of the situation spoke, Havik took notice of the young Seidan, giving a small wave to him, only to watch him hide behind the guardsmen he stood by. His actions made the ChaosRealmer smile and become curious of the other.

The conversation quickly turned heated and the guard that stood by the small Hotaru gently took to a knee, quietly speaking so that only the child could hear, encouraging him to take shelter in the nearby patch of trees, so as not to be caught in some sort of cross-fire. Seido had important plans for Hotaru and couldn't risk losing him in some ridiculous skirmish.

The small Seidan nodded and briskly walked towards the shelter of the trees, looking back a moment to see the adults engaged in kombat. A small gasp escaped him when he saw and put himself a good distance into the patch of trees to shelter himself.

Meanwhile, Havik's eyes followed the white-haired boy as he went into hiding. Uninterested with the kombat between the others, he slowly made his way to the thicket the other hid himself in. It was quiet, the sounds of weapons clashing and lashing tongues muffled by the trees. The child of chaos looked behind each tree until he found the object of his curiosity, sitting on a large root with his legs hugged to his chest.

Noticing the presence above him, Hotaru looked up and gasped, half attempting to hide within himself more. Havik's silent staring greatly unnerved the future guardsman, backing up (albeit into the tree) when the other crouched to become eye level with him.

"Why is your hair white," Havik inquired after a long moment of silence.

The Seidan never liked when others brought up the topic of his unnatural hair color. He was always teased in his schooling classes and picked on for the hue. He had half expected the ChaosRealmer to do the same, but something in his face read a genuine curiosity.

"I was born with it," Hotaru mumbled, bringing his legs up against his chest again. "Now go away..."

"But I don't want to," Havik retorted, doing quite the opposite of what the boy wanted and sitting close to him.

"I told you to go away from me," he said, not sure if he was more irritated or scared.

"But why?"

"Because I am not allowed to associate with you."

"Why?"

Hotaru huffed, quickly becoming annoyed with the other's pestering. Did he truly not understand the rivaling situation they were in?

"Because," he said softly, "we are enemies."

"But, I haven't done anything bad to you," Havik said with a frown. "Why do we have to be enemies? Why can't we be friends?"

Hotaru paused and looked up. It...made sense. It seemed logical—if this boy of chaos had done nothing harmful or cruel to him, then why could they not come to understand each other? Why couldn't they be...friends?

But, just as Hotaru was about to speak to convey his thoughts, the guardsman that had before stood protectively next to the child, quickly appeared, a bit bruised and scratched up—armor even bent in some places. Noticing the ChaosRealmer's child, the man growled and pulled Hotaru to his feet, scolding him.

"You were told never to associate with those of Chaos! You will be properly punished and re-educated on why we have these rules when we return to Seido."

Havik watched the small scene and huffed, finding the way the guard drilled such strenuous order into the other rather...disgusting. He got up and gave a (rather weak due to his age and current strength and the fact that the man still had armor on) kick to the mature Seidan's leg.

"You leave my new best friend alone!"

The guard gave an irritated click of his tongue, raising his foot to Havik's chest, sending him to the ground, and knocking the breath out of the poor child. The small cry of pain from the child alerted the Cleric and the others to Havik's location.

"You see," the guard spoke to Hotaru again. "Those of Chaos are unruly savages-"

"And you are not," the Cleric interrupted with anger in his voice. "Striking a child as you did!?"

"I was merely showing him the consequences of his unruly behavior," the Seidan roared back.

A stiff, silent tension filled the air; the village Rehtom taking Havik in her arms and soothing him. The physical pain did not bother the child, but the emotional distraught of leaving his "new best friend", for what he assumed to be forever, and the confusion of the entire situation had brought tears to the young boy's eyes as he quietly sobbed into his care taker's shoulder, sniffling and gripping onto her tightly.

Hotaru watched those of Chaos carefully. Havik seemed...very hurt. He did not think those of ChaosRealm could be emotionally wounded. Or rather, didn't think they took displeasure from it. He had also never seen his caretaker so angry. The Commander and other guardsman caught up with Hotaru and his caretaker and both parties turned to go their separate ways.

While walking, Hotaru looked over his shoulder, back at Havik. He felt...pity for the boy. Between that and fear of punishment and the intense situation that had played out before him today, he couldn't help but feel a few tears well in his own eyes, but quickly wiped them on his sleeve as he turned back around, taking his caretaker's hand as they traveled back to Seido.


End file.
